The Morning Sixpack - September 10, 2025
NATO shoots down Russian drones, Trump’s Fed picks stir chaos, ICE revives Stingrays, China outpaces tariffs, Epstein files haunt Trump.
NATO Shoots Down Russian Drones Deep Inside Poland
A first for the alliance—and a warning shot back at Moscow.
NATO warplanes just shot down Russian drones over Poland—the first time the alliance has taken out Moscow’s hardware over a member’s territory. This wasn’t some minor border skirmish. Poland says there were 19 incursions, airports were shut down, and the prime minister called it a “large-scale provocation.”
Dutch F-35s and Polish F-16s scrambled, dropping several drones that NATO leaders admit were flying deeper into Polish airspace than ever before. “Whether it was intentional or not, it is absolutely reckless. It is absolutely dangerous,” said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Translation: We’re now in “prove we can defend every inch” territory.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk isn’t buying the “oops, navigation error” defense either. He said the operation was “unprecedented,” and he’s not wrong—multiple NATO allies fired up systems at once, including Germany’s Patriots and Italy’s surveillance planes. That’s a whole lot of military muscle flexing just to stop some cheap reconnaissance drones.
Moscow, of course, insists it had no interest in hitting Poland. Belarus chimed in, claiming Ukraine’s electronic warfare pushed the drones off course. Problem is, experts say the distances involved make that excuse laughable. These weren’t Shaheds loaded with explosives, but Gerbera drones—basically glorified scouts. Which means the point wasn’t damage, it was testing NATO’s response time.
Bottom line: Russia poked, NATO punched back, and everyone’s still pretending this isn’t how world wars start. The timing couldn’t be worse either, with Poland running massive war games and Russia about to kick off its own Zapad exercises. If you’re keeping score, Warsaw just reminded Moscow—and everyone else—that NATO isn’t bluffing.
Source: Wall Street Journal (gift article)
Funny how Moscow keeps saying “we didn’t mean it” while pushing the boundaries harder every month. That’s like a drunk driver claiming he only swerved into your lane as a test of your reflexes.
Judge Blocks Trump’s Attempt to Oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook
The fight over the Fed’s independence just got very real.
A federal judge just blocked Trump from booting Lisa Cook off the Federal Reserve Board—at least for now. Judge Jia Cobb granted Cook a temporary order keeping her in her seat while her lawsuit plays out, calling Trump’s firing attempt a likely violation of the Federal Reserve Act.
Translation: You can’t just say “you’re fired” to a Fed governor like it’s an episode of The Apprentice.
Cook’s term runs until 2038, and Cobb made it clear that removal can’t be based on “assumptions” or unproven allegations from before someone takes office. Trump had leaned on mortgage fraud accusations to justify the firing, but Cook’s lawyers say those charges are flimsy at best—and nothing that should let a president stack the Fed with loyalists. As Cobb put it, removal is only valid if it’s about actual performance in office, not campaign-style smears.
The Morning Sixpack Podcast - September 9, 2025
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The White House fired back fast, saying it’ll appeal and still push to “restore accountability” at the Fed.
Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, countered that the ruling “reaffirms the importance of safeguarding the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political interference.” This case is barreling toward the Supreme Court, and it could decide once and for all whether presidents have the power to turn the Fed into a political football. Spoiler: The current SCOTUS will side with the POTUS.
The backdrop here matters: Trump’s been pressuring the Fed to slash interest rates since day one, and Cook’s removal would have opened up another seat for him to fill. By citing unproven mortgage paperwork errors, the administration argued courts should defer to Trump’s judgment on what counts as “cause.” Cobb disagreed, basically telling the White House that “cause” means something more than vibes and accusations.
So for now, Lisa Cook keeps her chair at the table when the Fed meets next week. But don’t think this is over—the appeals are coming, the politics are heating up, and the independence of the world’s most powerful central bank is hanging by a thread.
Source: Wall Street Journal (gift article)
Nothing screams “confidence in the markets” like turning the Fed into a political cage match. Wall Street must be thrilled.
ICE Is Still Using Fake Cell Towers To Track Phones
Yes, Stingrays are back, and they’re following more than just fugitives.
ICE is quietly using Stingray devices—fake cell towers that trick your phone into connecting—to track people’s locations. The tech doesn’t just zero in on the suspect. Everyone nearby gets swept up in the data dragnet, making it one of the most controversial surveillance tools in government hands.
A recently unsealed warrant shows ICE deployed one in Orem, Utah, to track a Venezuelan fugitive who escaped prison on a murder charge. Standard phone tracing only narrowed him down to a 30-block radius, so agents asked for a Stingray to pinpoint him. It’s unclear whether they ever caught him—but the bigger story is the tech itself.
Civil rights groups hammered ICE for using Stingrays during Trump’s first term, but clearly that didn’t stop them. In fact, ICE has doubled down. Earlier this year, anomalies near a protest in Washington state looked suspiciously like Stingray activity. And procurement records reveal ICE spent nearly $1 million on “cell site simulator vehicles” in May, plus a $4.4 million contract with Harris Corp., the Stingray’s original maker.
Contracts get signed, gear gets bought, and privacy gets bulldozed. These things were sold as “targeted tools” for catching fugitives. In reality, they’re a blunt instrument that vacuum up everyone’s digital footprint.
Source: Forbes
Funny how ICE’s “immigration enforcement” tools keep looking more like NSA hand-me-downs. Next thing you know they’ll be selling the data back to telecoms as a side hustle.
Trump’s Trade War Isn’t Crippling China—It’s Supercharging It Elsewhere
Tariffs cut U.S. imports, but the rest of the world is buying in bulk.
Trump’s tariffs have slashed Chinese exports to America, but Beijing is laughing all the way to Lagos, Hanoi, and Brussels. Fresh trade data show U.S. imports from China dropped by 25% in the past three months, yet China’s total exports jumped 6%. Uncle Sam’s share of Chinese exports shrank from 15% to 10%, while Europe and the Global South snapped up the slack.
At the Shanghai Cooperation summit, Xi Jinping cast China as the antidote to U.S. “bullying,” and the numbers back him up. Exports to Africa surged by a third, Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) sales rose by a fifth, and shipments to Europe climbed nearly 10%. One year ago, the U.S. and EU bought roughly the same volume from China—now Europe buys 60% more. That’s not “decoupling,” that’s redistribution.
The Belt and Road Initiative is greasing the wheels. In just the first half of 2025, BRI contracts hit a record $120 billion, with Africa pulling in $30 billion of that—five times more than a year earlier. Nigeria’s imports of Chinese goods jumped 50% as Beijing finances railways and power plants. Egypt and Kenya are cutting deals too, even converting dollar loans into yuan. Trump may wall off North America, but China’s building highways through the Global South.
Meanwhile, Southeast Asia is becoming Beijing’s factory extension. Exports to Thailand and Vietnam jumped 25%, with electronics and machinery surging 40%. Some of it is “front-loading” to dodge new levies, but much of it is supply chain strategy—Chinese firms are moving production into ASEAN to meet local trade rules. The more Washington screams “Fortress America,” the deeper Beijing embeds itself everywhere else.
Mexico is the lone exception, slapping tariffs on Chinese goods to appease Trump. But history isn’t on America’s side. As the Economist notes, when the Ming dynasty walled itself off, decline followed. If Trump thinks tariffs can kneecap China, the numbers are telling a different story—China’s trade machine isn’t breaking, it’s just finding new customers.
Source: The Economist
Trump’s fortress strategy looks less like economic dominance and more like America locking itself in the basement while China sells the furniture to the neighbors.
Trump’s Fed Pick Refuses to Cut White House Ties
Stephen Miran wants to sit on the Fed while still warming a seat in Trump’s West Wing.
Stephen Miran, Trump’s nominee for the Federal Reserve, won’t commit to leaving his White House post even if he’s still at the Fed past January. In written answers to the Senate Banking Committee, Miran said he’d take “unpaid leave” from his role as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers but stopped short of pledging to resign. Translation: He wants to wear both hats and call it independence.
That’s a problem—especially since Miran himself once slammed the revolving door between the Fed and the executive branch. In a Manhattan Institute paper just last year, he argued Fed board members should be insulated from politics and banned from serving in the White House for four years after leaving. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren pressed him on that contradiction, Miran punted, saying only that he’d “comply with all post-employment restrictions currently applicable.”
The Banking Committee votes on his nomination Wednesday, setting up a possible full Senate confirmation before the Fed’s policy meeting next week. Trump has been pounding the table for lower interest rates, and Miran’s nomination is a clear signal he wants a central bank that moves in lockstep with his political agenda. As one economist put it, “Having a senior adviser to the president serve as a Fed governor would raise the concern that the independence of the Fed had been weakened.”
Miran insists he’ll “act independently,” but let’s be real: Independence is a lot harder to sell when you’re still drawing White House stationary. Investors already worry that political meddling could gut the Fed’s credibility. Markets don’t like the idea of a Fed governor checking his notes with the Oval Office before voting on rates.
The bottom line: This is unprecedented in modern Fed history. If confirmed, Miran would be the first sitting White House economic adviser to also serve as a Fed governor. Independence? That word’s starting to look more like a punchline than a principle.
Source: Washington Post
It’s rich watching a guy who wrote the rulebook on keeping politics out of the Fed now asking for the keys to both the vault and the White House coffee machine.
Trump’s Epstein “Birthday Card” Scandal Just Got Uglier
The conspiracy king is getting swallowed by his own monster.
Trump is being hammered by the very kind of conspiracy he spent years weaponizing—this time tied to Jeffrey Epstein. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Epstein’s estate, and damning documents are already surfacing. Among them: a lewd drawing and birthday message signed by Trump himself, published by the Wall Street Journal after the White House loudly insisted it didn’t exist.
The message alludes to a “wonderful secret” between Trump and Epstein, paired with a disturbing sketch of a young girl. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the signature was fake, but handwriting comparisons from the same era suggest otherwise. Another entry in Epstein’s 50th birthday book, submitted by Mar-a-Lago associate Joel Pashcow, mocked up a $22,500 check implying Epstein “sold” a woman to Trump—described as “fully depreciated.” That language speaks volumes about how women were treated in their circle.
Trump’s defense? Deny, deflect, and call it a hoax. On X, his team insisted the card “proves the story is false.” On Truth Social, he recycled his greatest hit: Democrats are framing him, just like “Russia, Russia, Russia.” Meanwhile, survivors of Epstein’s trafficking network are demanding full release of the files, holding press conferences and pushing a discharge petition in Congress to unseal everything.
The irony is delicious and damning. Back in 2015, Trump was one of the first to publicly tie Epstein to the Clintons, seeing it as a political cudgel. His allies in the right-wing media ran with it, QAnon turned it into gospel, and Trump himself rode the Epstein conspiracy train for years. Now that it’s circling back with his name on the documents, he wants the ride shut down.
The lesson here is brutal but clear: You can’t live by conspiracy theories forever without getting eaten by them. Trump has always been the world’s loudest hoax salesman—from birtherism to COVID lies to “the election was stolen.” Now, with Epstein’s ghost back in the headlines, he’s learning what it feels like when the receipts have his name on them.
Source: My Daily Grind
Trump calling the Epstein scandal a “hoax” is like a guy covered in barbecue sauce insisting he’s never been near the ribs. The mess is obvious—and it’s his.